My love of fitness started back in high school as I was one of the top cross-country and middle distance track runners is SC. Later, I expanded my distances and began running half and full marathons becoming one of the top distance runners in SC. A knee injury that progressively worsened took me out of running at age 24.

For many years, I was an on and off cyclist (mainly mountain) to stay in shape and fill the void left by my competitive running. The knee progressively worsened until 2010 when I opted for a total knee replacement. After traditional rehab, indoor cycling became my way of getting off a huge amount of poundage and get myself back in condition. I loved it so much that I became certified to teach indoor cycling and purchased a nice Tarmac in the summer of 2012. From January 2011 to May 2013 I lost 60 lbs. and removed over 6” from the waistline.

I am currently a group fitness instructor employed by the Carolina Marathon Association as an event coordinator. In the winter months, I spend 10-12 hours a week on the bike. This includes my indoor cycle classes which convert to an average 15 miles per session. My winter mileage has been averaging around 130-140 miles a week. Beginning the next few weeks, mileage will increase to average over 150 miles per week with some weeks in late April and May near the 200 mile mark.

Being new to racing, I do not have the impressive race resume yet, but hope to improve greatly on that this year. My first road race ever was the GA Senior Olympics in Sept. 2012. Having owned a road bike for less than four months, I was lacking greatly in experience. As would be expected, I was dropped on the first big surge. In May 2013, I competed in the SC Senior Olympics managing 3 silver medals in TT. Also in 2013, I rode the Masters 50 plus USAC SC State Championship Rode Race. I was promptly dropped by the lead riders. Making big improvements through 2013, I returned to the GA Senior Olympics to get two bronze in road race events and a bronze in 10k TT.

In 2014, I competed in a couple of USAC road race events in the 50 plus Masters division. Finishing in second tier group in the Rock Hill Classic. In the SC state Road Race, I rode with the main peloton through about 35 of 45 miles, but was dropped on the last big hill discovering soon after that I had an under deflated tire that had a slow leak which became noticeably flat shortly after the hill. I competed in two crit races in 2014, one in Gaffney and the other was the SC State Championship in Blythewood. I did decently in my first crit races, but was not able to stay with the lead pack. In May 2014, I received two golds in the SC State Senior Olympics in 10k and 5k TT. I contribute the strong showing largely to riding the cycle leg of the tri-Charleston in April and completed the 56 miles in just over 2:30:00. I learned that day how to fight the pain.

This year, I have already completed my first race in the Hincapie series. Racing in the master’s 50plus road race in Fork Shoals where the SC Road Race Championship have been held. I held the entire 45 miles with the peloton and in fact was out to the lead for about a mile about 5-6 miles out from the finish. I was definitely out sprinted at the end finishing mid-pack. Although mid-pack, if the unofficial results were correct, I would have actually be 4th out of those 55 plus. The other good news is I was racing this race somewhere between 8-10 lbs. over my optimum race weight, so I look forward to shaving that extra poundage in March and April.

2013

GA State senior Olympics, bronze in 40k and 20k road, and bronze in 10k time trial.